Valued at trillions of dollars per year, public procurement spending is a magnet for fraud. At a recent ICAEW event, leading experts shared insights on how to combat the problem.
Public procurement accounts for 13% of GDP across Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, representing a third of their total government expenditure.
Independent charity the Open Contracting Partnership (OCP), which works in more than 50 countries to ensure fair dealing on public contracts, values total global public procurement spending at a whopping $13tn per year – a sum that inevitably attracts large-scale pilfering.
On International Anti-Corruption Day last year (9 December), ICAEW members gathered at Chartered Accountants’ Hall to hear how that vast financial flow is exploited by bad actors. Representatives from both the OECD and OCP outlined the risk factors driving public procurement fraud and corruption. They also presented strategies for government bodies to strengthen their defences.
https://www.icaew.com/insights/viewpoints-on-the-news/2025/jan-2025/protecting-public-funds-tackling-procurement-fraud